CHAPTER XXVIII
TOSSED BY THE STORM
Very little information could be obtained from Mr. Rossmore. He wasso "flustered," as he expressed it, from what had taken place, and sounnerved by the thought that he had been harboring in his barn twodesperate bank robbers, that he could hardly answer simple questions.
"All I know," he said, "is that I was out in the garden when theirairship whizzed overhead. It flopped on one side, and the men werespilled out. They fell in a tree, or they'd have been killed instantly.I ran to help them, so I didn't notice which way their machine wentoff."
"But you must have some idea," insisted Jerry.
"Well, as near as I can tell it went over that way," and he pointed tothe west. "It's a terrible lonesome country there. Once you get lostit's all up with you."
"We don't intend to get lost," declared Ned.
Nothing more could be gained by questioning the farmer, and, afterpaying him for his hospitality our friends looked over their craft tosee if it was in shape for another long flight.
The repairs made to the brace had been completed, and the machinery wasin perfect order. There was also plenty of gasolene and provisions andstores on board.
"We'll just have to cruise about until we sight the airship that gotaway from the robbers," decided Jerry.
"You don't suppose it's floating yet; do you?" asked Ned.
"No, it must have run out of gasolene some time ago, to say nothing ofbeing deflected downward by the wind, and crashing into a tree. No,we'll have to look on the ground in the forest for this craft."
"And maybe the bank treasure isn't on it after all," suggested Bob.
"Maybe not, Chunky. Yet if those robbers had it about them we'd havediscovered it. And I don't believe they have hidden it in the barn.Well, let's start."
All the rest of that day they cruised about in the air, occasionallyveering to the left or right, for they could not be certain that thepilotless _Silver Star_ would keep to a straight course.
"If we only knew which way the wind was blowing at the time theirairship scooted off by herself, we might know better how to search,"observed Bob, pausing in his work of getting supper.
"Yes, and if we knew how much gasolene she carried, we could tell howlong her engine would run, and if we knew just where she had fallen inthese woods we'd go there and find her," added Jerry. "But we don'tknow those things, so we've got to do the best we can."
"I certainly hope I get a chance to look for my flying frog," put inthe professor. "We are getting over the region now where they are to befound."
"We'll do the best we can for you," promised the tall lad.
On and on they went. Night came, and they descended in a smallclearing, for in the darkness they did not want to run over the placewhere the wrecked airship might be. Morning again saw them on the wing.
It was about noon, when Jerry, who had paid several anxious visits tothe barometer, came back into the pilot house where Ned was steering.
"What's up?" asked the merchant's son.
"We're in for another storm--a worse one than the thunder andlightning kind we had the time we landed at the lonely farmhouse,"replied the tall lad. "It's going to be a blow."
"Well, can't we weather it?"
"I suppose so. We could go down now, as there are several clearingsaround us. But if we do we may lose a chance of discovering the airshiptreasure."
"Then keep on," advised Ned.
"The only thing is," resumed Jerry, "that if we get in the midst of astiff blow we may not be able to land when we want to, on account ofthe thick trees."
"I guess we'll have to take the chance," went on the other. "We'll geteverything snug, and then, when it does come on to blow, we'll be inshape for it."
Everything loose about the airship was made fast. Jerry and his chums,with Professor Snodgrass to help them (for the scientist left off hisbug collecting pursuits when he saw the storm coming up) went over themachinery, and saw that it was in good working order. The gas containerwas filled with the vapor under double pressure, ready to be used incase of emergency.
Then all they could do was to wait, meanwhile sailing slowly on,peering down through the gathering murkiness for a sight of thedisabled biplane.
The storm broke with a suddenness that was almost terrifying. It camewith a dash of rain, some thunder and lightning, and then these ceased,while the wind blew as the boys had seldom seen it blow before. In aninstant they were tossed skyward, and then hurled toward the earth, andhad not Jerry quickly set the rising rudder they might have been dashedupon the tree tops.
The wind now became a perfect gale, and on the wings of it they werehurled forward, almost faster than their powerful propellers couldcarry them. They were tossed hither and thither by the storm, and onlyJerry's skill, aided as he was by his chums, prevented a wreck in thefirst few minutes of the opening blasts on the trumpet of the stormking.
"Can't you go up higher, and get away from it?" yelled Ned into Jerry'sear.
"If we do we may miss the _Silver Star_," was the answer. For it wasnot so dark but that the white and flapping expanse of the planes ofthe wrecked airship could be noticed in case the boys sighted her.
Forward they were hurled, Jerry trying to keep at about the samedistance above the forest, but finding it hard work. It was over anunbroken woods that they were now moving. Not a clearing was to be seenin the many miles they covered in a short space of time.
"We're going to have trouble when we want to land to-night," remarkedthe tall lad. "I doubt if we can do it."
"We can't unless we get to a clearing," declared Ned.
"Or a lake," added Bob.
With a swoop the _Comet_ went sailing upward, as a fiercer blast of thewind caught under her big planes, and Jerry strained at the lever ofthe deflecting rudder to bring her down.
"Give us a hand here!" he cried to his chums, and they sprang to hisside.
Slowly the airship was forced downward, and then on she went on thewings of the gale, swaying from side to side, while the wind howledthrough her wire rigging as if in glee at the fate in store for her.